Cigarette lighter



Nova 2, 1937. l. FLORMAN 2,097,973

CIGARETTE LIGHTER Filed Jan. 31, 1935 FIG. '1 FIG. 2

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Snow m h heated by the contact of fuel vapors to ignite a Wardly and causes the end of the tube to engage Patented Nov. 2, 1937 r l UNITED STATES PATENT OFF! 2,097,973

CIGARETTE LIGHTER Irving Florman, New York, N. Y.- Application January 31, 1935, Serial No. 4,390

7 6 Claims. (01. 67-7) My invention relates to cigarette lighters and with a tube rigidly secured to this cup and exmore particularly to lighters of the catalytic type. tending downwardly to the bottom of the lighter. The fuel nowalmost universally usedin light- The cup is mounted in a sleeve which slides, and ers of the type having a catalytic pill which is the closingof the lighter moves the sleeve downcigarette is methanol alcohol. In the past, cona washer on the bottom of the lighter. The siderable difficulty has been experienced with such catalyst isthus sealed off. In this type of lighter lighters because, although for a limited time they as heretofore produced, the tube has been of unioperate very satisfactorily, after a certain period form diameter throughout and has entered a hole 10 of use the catalyst apparently becomes poisoned in the bottom of the catalyst cup, where it is 10 or, in-other words, inactive. soldered in place. As there is a certain amount I have, discovered that the reason for this of strain on this connection, because of the prespoisoning is the fact that felt is used asa' wick. sure exerted on the tube when the lighter is Felt is ordinarily made of animal wool, and this closed, the solder is likely to becomeweakened.

wool, no matter how carefully it is purified, al- In many instances, this pressure, will cause the 11) ways contains acert'ain amount of oil and grease. tube to slide upward through the hole, which This grease is dissolvedby the methanol alcohol practically renders the lighter useless if it does and carried up to the pill, where it isdepositedfoh not actually breakthrough and destroy the catthe catalyst. When the catalyst becomes coated alyticpill or mass.

with such grease, it is rendered inactive and will The second object of my invention is to pro- 20 no longer be heated by the contact of the fuel vide a construction in which such a breaking of Vapors. It is then necessary to reactivate the the lighter mechanism cannot occur. In other catalyst in some manner, astep which is entirely words, I havean arrangement in which the tube impractical for the ordinary user of such lighters. cannot S ide" upwa y through the e into t e As a result, the only practical procedure. in the cup. This I accomplish by providing a shoulder 2 past has been the replacement of the catalytic onthe tube which engages the lower face of the pill. This is expensive and troublesome, and has up and a reduced section which extends into rendered such lighters unsatisfactory. the hole. amount of pressure w ch would 'I have now discovered that this poisoning of th occur in ordinary use of the lighter can then drive pill can be avoided by using for the wick a mathe tube p into the p- 30 terial which does not contain animal fats, or Still another object of my invention is to proother impurities. The material which-jI use is vide a lighter of this type which can be manupurified and sterilized -cotton. I have found le tured and produced Ve y inexpensively. This particularly satisfactory the type of material I accomplish by forming the lighter casing of two used in the formationof dental rolls, such as are exactly similar parts, and then arranging a 35 ordinarily used by dentists for absorbing the sathreaded connection between t e pa ts posed liva and for spacing" the gums from the teeth of two elements each of which has a friction fit during the treatment of't'eeth. These rolls con in one of the parts. The cost of manufacture of sist of athin sheetof sterilized and purified cotton the device can be considerably reduced y this 40 which is rolled up into-a rod-like body of about -G one-quarter of an inch indiametei, with an out- Sti l anothe Obje s D V a novel p side covering layer of thin," absorbent paper. of catalyst arrangement which is particularly sat- This paper gives additional absorptive power and s acto y for a ciga e ter Of t s nature. also serves to hold the cotton roll in shape. Further objects and advantages will appear I have found that when a wick of such material more fully from the following description, par- 45 is used, poisoning of the catalyst is avoided and ula y en ta in c on with the acthe life of the lighter is greatly extended. The mpan ing dr w n wh h f rm a p rt hereof.

primary object of rny invention is the provision In the drawing: of a wick of this type in a catalytic lighter, so 1 & Vertical Cross Section through a 56 that poisoning is done away with. lighter according to my invention in closed 120- i Furthermore, some'of the lighters of this type sition. V on the market today are arranged to' cut off the Fig. 2 is: a similar cross section with the cover catalytic pill from the fuel chamber except when removed and the lighter in operative position. A the lighter is in use. In such lighters, itis known Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 33 of $5 to provide a cup 'in' which the catalyst is placed Fig. 1. t

of member I4 is adapted to have a friction tight The upper part'24 fit in the base member ID. of member 14 is of reduced diameter andisexternally threaded. The intermediate part 26 of member I 4 extends out over the upper edge of member Ill as shown in Fig. 1. Member l6 consists of an internally threaded ring adapted to thread on the external threads of portion 24 and has a friction tight fit within the cover member l2. Both the cover [2 and the base III are provided with rubber washers 28.

The catalyst is mounted in a cup carried at the upped end of a sleeve 30 which has a sliding fit in section I8 of member I4, and is thus mounted in base H). A lug 32 limits the outward sliding movement of the sleeve. Openings 34are provided in the upper part of the sleeve to admit air to the interior thereof.

The catalyst is held in a cup consisting of a member 36 of substantially the same diameter as the sleeve 39, a reduced portion 38 which fits friction tight in the upper end of sleeve 30, and a bottom til provided with a central opening 42. A tube Mi is rovided with a reduced upper end 45 I which fits into the opening 42, thus providing a shoulder 48 which engages the lower face of the bottom wall 4i! of the cup. The reduced section 46 is held in position in the hole 42 by soldering or in some other suitable manner. Threaded on the lower end of the tube 44 is a disc 50 provided with perforations 52. V

The catalyst consists of a pill 54 composed of some suitable porous material with which is mixed platinum black or some other catalytic material. The central portion of this pill is provided with three openings 56. The pill v5 1 rests in the cup portion 38, and is held in position by a metal washer 58 having a central opening 60 above the holes 56. A split spring ring 62 fits frictionally in the portion 36 of the cup and thus holds the washer 58 on the pill 54 to secure it in the cup.

A helically coiled spring 64 surrounds the lower end of the tube 44 resting on the washer 28 and engaging the disc 50. This spring will obviously push the sleeve 39 upwardly. v

The wick 6S fits within the sleeve 30 and is held in position around the tube 44 by the disc 50.

This wick, as shown in Fig. 3, consists of a central portion 58 comprising a thin sheet of cotton which has been rolled upon itself to form a. tube or rod-like section, and a covering sheet of thin, absorbent paper or other suitable material. The cotton is thoroughly sterilized so as to be entirely free from oils, greases or other impurities. The paper covering is likewise sterilized and serves to hold the cotton rod in shape. This material preferably corresponds to the ordinary dental roll having a paper covering.

The operation of the device is as follows: i

When the light is in the closed position shown in Fig. 1, the sleeve is depressed by the contact between washer 28 and. the upper end 36 of the cup, until the lower end of tube 4 engages washer 28. The catalyst is thus sealed off from the wick 66 and the surrounding space both at the bottom and at the top by the washers 28. No fuel can reach the catalyst. When the cover i2 is removed, spring 64 pushes the sleeve 3|] upward until member 32 strikes the shoulder 29. At this point, as shown in Fig. 2, the bottom of tube 44 is raised off the washer 28. When a cigarette is placed on the upper surface of disc 58 and suction, applied thereto, air will be: drawn through openings 34 and from the wick up through tube 44, to the pill 54. The fuel picked up by this air 'will cause the catalyst in the pill to become hot and the-cigarette will be lighted. Because of the absence of anyimpurities in the cotton, no oil or grease will be carried to the pill and the same will remain fresh almost indefinitely.

In producing the lighter, it is obvious that the construction of the same out of the parts shown in Fig.5 is both simple and inexpensive. The top and bottom I0 and I2 are exactly similar, and therefore may be produced by a single machine. All that is necessary is to insert the members M and 16 in the members [0 and I2 in which they are held by friction, and the lighter casing is then complete Furthermore, the washers 28 can be introduced before the members l4 and I6 are in position, and the whole device is thus easy to assemble.

While I have described herein one embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to limit myself thereby except within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a lighter having a catalytic body which is heatedby the contact of fuel vapors for lighting a cigarette directly, a wick member for holding fuel, and 'means providing communication between said wick member and said catalytic body, said wick member comprising sterilized absorbent cellulosic material from which substantially all grease and oil have been removed.

2. In a lighter having a catalytic body which is heated by the contact of fuel vapors for lighting a cigarette directly, a wick member for holding fuel, and means providing communication between said wick member and said catalytic body, said wick member comprising sterilized cotton from which substantially all grease and oil have been removed.

3. In a lighter having a catalytic body which is heated by the contact of fuel vapors for lighting a cigarette directly, a. wick member for holding fuel, and means providing communication between said wick member and said catalytic body, said-wick member comprising a central portion of sterilized cotton from which substantially all grease and oil have been removed having a covering of absorbent paper.

4. In a cigarette lighter, a casing,,a holder 7 slidable in said casing, a catalytic member carried by'said holder for engagement by a cigarette to ignite the same, said casing having a fuel chamber therein, said holder including a cup in which said catalyst is mounted having an opening, in the bottom thereof, a tube having one end secured in said opening and having its other end adjacent the bottom of the casing, whereby when said holder is moved downwardly in the casing the'bottom of said tube engages the bottom of the casing to close the tube and shut off the catalyst from the fuel chamber, said tube havinga shoulder thereon adjacent its upper end engaging the bottom of said cup whereby said tube is prevented from passing upwardly through said cup.

5. In a lighter of the class described, a casing comprising a base member and a cover, said members being similar, cooperating threaded members the first of which has a friction fit with the base and the second of which has a friction fit with the cover, whereby said cover and base may be threadedly held together, a holder slidably mounted in the first of said members, a catalytic body carried by said holder, said base having a fuel chamber therein, and means operated by downward sliding movement of said holder to shut off communication between the fuel chamber and the catalyst, said cover member engaging the upper edge of said holder to hold the same in depressed position when the cover is threaded on the base.

6. In a lighter of the class described, a casing comprising a base member and a cover, said members being similar, cooperating threaded members the first of which has a friction fit with the base and the second of which has a friction fit with the cover, whereby said cover and base may be threadedly held together, a holder slidably mounted in the first of said members, a catalytic body carried by said holder, said base having a fuel chamber therein, said holder including a cup in which said catalyst is mounted having an opening in the bottom thereof, a tube having one end secured in said opening and having its other end adjacent the bottom of the casing, whereby when said holder is moved downwardly in the casing the bottom of said tube engages the bottom of the casing to close the tube and shut off the catalyst from the fuel chamber, said tube having a shoulder thereon adjacent its upper end engaging the bottom of said cup whereby said tube is prevented from passing upwardly through said cup, said cover member engaging the upper edge of said holder to hold the same in depressed position when the cover is threaded on the base.

IRVING FLORMAN. 

